NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Mayor Eric Adams is facing criticism and accusations of hypocrisy as he warns that the ongoing migrant crisis could have a devastating impact on the city.
Texas officials have challenged his stance, asserting that New York was dealing with only a fraction of the migrant influx that Texas has been handling for years.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, told Fox News, "Mayor Adams was proud to tout his self-described sanctuary city status until Texas began busing migrants to New York City to provide relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities."
Mayor Eric Adams' past statements under scrutiny
In August 2022, Adams expressed pride in New York being a sanctuary state as buses carrying migrants from the southern border began arriving.
However, the flow of buses has continued unabated, and on Wednesday, September 6, Adams openly admitted that he "doesn't see an ending" to the migrant issue, which is projected to cost the city $12B over three years.
Over 13,000 of these migrants have been sent to New York City by Abbott, who initiated the transportation of refugees to bring attention to the crisis in his state.
In response to Adams labeling Abbott a "madman" for this move, Abbott's press secretary characterized the New York mayor's hypocrisy as "astounding."
Texas has been grappling with the migrant problem on a much larger scale for several years.
Abbott, when questioned about his proactive approach to the migrant crisis, has consistently argued that he was addressing the "dangerous gaps created by the Biden administration's refusal to secure the border."
Abbott stated on Tuesday that Texas had transported over 35,000 asylum seekers to self-declared sanctuary cities, with more than 13,300 sent to New York since August 2022.
Mahaleris continued to emphasize on the scale of the issue, saying, "With millions of residents, New York is only dealing with a fraction of what our small border communities deal with on a day-to-day basis."
Mahaleris continued, "Instead of complaining about 13,000 migrants sent from Texas, Mayor Adams should be calling out his party leader, President Biden, who has been flying planeloads of migrants all around the country and oftentimes in the cover of night, straining state and local resources across the country.
"Until President Biden steps up and does his job, Texas will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities to provide relief to our overwhelmed border towns," the statement added.
Adams has called on the federal government to take action amidst the crisis, expressing concern that the lack of intervention was encouraging people from "all over the globe" to head for the border with hopes of reaching New York City.
"Now we are getting people from all over the globe who have made their minds up that they're going to come through the southern part of the border and come into New York City," Adams said.
He added, "And everyone is saying it's New York City's problem. Every community in this city is going to be impacted."
Adams highlighted the financial burden on the city, estimating that it will cost over $4B in 2023 alone.
Without federal assistance, this cost will be borne by the city's budget, equivalent to the combined budgets of the city's sanitation, fire, and parks departments.
Interestingly, when the first buses arrived in Manhattan's Port Authority in August 2022, Adams expressed a different perspective, stating, "As the mayor of New York, I have to provide services to families that are here, and that's what we're going to do - our responsibility as a city, and I'm proud that this is a Right to Shelter state, and we're going to continue to do that."
Crisis at the southern border
A significant number of refugees crossing the US-Mexico border in recent years have fled from Venezuela due to the nation's economic decline.
From 2015 to 2018, around 100 Venezuelans were stopped annually at the border. However, from October 2021 to August 2022, this number surged to 150,000.
Abbott's decision to begin transporting migrants in August 2022 came after he initiated 'Operation Lone Star,' an initiative aimed at addressing the influx of asylum seekers in Texas towns.
As the influx of migrants reached New York City, Adams resorted to various measures, including repurposing city landmarks, establishing makeshift shelters and providing temporary housing as short-term solutions.
Many of these decisions have faced backlash from New Yorkers. The transformation of historic hotels like the Redbury and Roosevelt into exclusive migrant shelters in August was met with criticism.
In a particularly controversial proposal, Adams suggested moving refugees into Manhattan's MCC prison, the same facility where Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019.
The desperation to provide housing for migrants has led to prioritizing families for spaces in hotels, leaving thousands waiting on the streets for vacancies or relocating to shelters.
In August, New York's deputy mayor for health and human services, Anne Williams-Isom, revealed that over 57,000 migrants were in the city's homeless shelters, comprising over half of the total population.
